But what was most amazing to me is how this project was inspired. As I discovered in the interview, Patterson is both gay and African-American. He has suffered from AIDS for a couple decades, and that occasionally slowed this work.

But there’s more: The idea for this project was inspired by Patterson’s deceased partner, Mohammad, who was Muslim. Mohammad wondered why Jews and Muslims commonly wrote their scriptures by hand and Christians did not.

Patterson took that as a calling, and began his work in August 2007, worked for seven years and finally penned the last two verses of the Book of Revelation on May 11. The finished volume is being donated to St. Peter’s Presbyterian Church in Spencertown, N.Y.

You can view photos of the project, as well as read reflections from Patterson at his website.